Sensory Training
What is Sensory Attunement? Not altogether different from visualization, sensory attunement also focuses on enhancing your ability to perceive the environment around. With general Sensory Attunement in Psionics means to develop the natural five senses and using them in a Psionic fashion. This means that you will be training up the same sense that is triggered when you feel someone watching you. By harnessing this sense, it will be far easier to learn Psionics, and also detect energy. Sensory Training First thing to build on when it comes to sensory attunement is learning and improving intuition. Some people refer to Intuition as the sixth sense, but in Psionics we consider it to be the first, as it is the most primal of our senses. Animals with none of the evolved sensory organs such as we have still have Intuition. Our other senses grew from Intuition, to further elaborate upon its input. And our other senses short-circuit and feed us disjointed information if they do not remain rooted in Intuition. There are no exercises we can practice to empower our Intuitive Sense, but we can practice at opening the channels so that we can consciously hear its voice. The voice of Intuition is known variously as superconsciousness, guardian angel/spirits/animals, the Holy Spirit. We prefer to call it the second awareness. The first awareness we have already explored—being fully present and intimately attuned to the flow within the current instant. The second awareness is being aware of ourselves; it is ‘being our own observer’, our own second perspective. It's actually fairly easy, as most of us do it already from time to time. After you've made a mistake, have you ever said, "I knew I was doing it wrong while I was doing it, but I went ahead and did it anyway." That “knew" was your second awareness. The second awareness gives us the greater picture, the overview. It is not bound by the pattern of our habits or the conventions of our existence. In a conscious effort to get things done or to keep doing things the way we're used to doing them, Civilized People usually discount that second, little, nagging voice. After a while, they can hardly hear it; this is what we call the human veil. Lifting the Human Veil just takes practice; there is no special skill involved. When you hear the voice, stop everything and give it conscious recognition to empower it. Then follow the voice visualize what it is. Every time you give it conscious power, you make it easier to lift the Veil the next time, as you are strengthening the channel between intuition and consciousness. (If the Veil is heavy and you are not hearing the voice, the Veil will lighten by practicing the form of meditation given in the Circle Attunement chapter.) There are two pitfalls to watch out for in beginning to function from the second awareness: One is the habit of listening to it in retrospect rather than in the moment, which keeps us going back, trying to re-do the past by correcting our errors. The other is not maintaining a balance between the two awareness’s by allowing the second awareness to dominate. We are intuitive beings, but we are also rational beings, and it takes practice to bring the two voices in balance to our Heart-of-Hearts. The seeming conflict arises when the cultivated skills or modes of functioning of the first awareness are immediately appropriate, but the second awareness suggests a different action based upon its grander perspective. For example, imagine that you are sliding through Boulder-strewn rapids in a canoe and you need to make a quick move to avoid kissing a Rock. Your second-awareness impression would likely be to challenge your reflexes and test the limits of your skill by getting as close as possible to that Rock. On the other hand, your first awareness suggestion would be to exercise caution, to use the tried-and-true techniques that have gotten you around many Rocks before. More often than not you would operate from your second awareness in a situation like this, because it would be for the Greater Good—it would keep you growing and adaptable. But this time it would be a mistake, because you are returning to camp with several baskets full of Medicinals that I just gathered and wish to keep dry. Choices such as the one in the above example do not occur after one has permanently lifted the Veil. Rather, the Heart-of-Hearts considers information such as the above, and more, and directs the appropriate action. It is imperative that we have a well-attuned first awareness before we seriously begin lifting the Veil to Intuition. Attempting to juggle two dysfunctional awarenesses is courting disaster; we could be placing ourselves and others in jeopardy. Imagine the above canoeing scenario with the added variable of the voice of both awarenesses being unreliable. Expect errors in judgment as you progress. In fact, welcome them and give thanks for their occurrence, because they are powerful personal teachers. Category:Foundations Category:Psionic Virtues